Características
The exceptionally talented saxophonist Sam Rivers was born in Oklahoma and came into contact with music at an early age thanks to his mother, a pianist, and his father, a gospel singer. He later moved to Boston to study at the conservatory there, where he met the then barely legal drummer Tony Williams. Williams paved the way for him by recommending Rivers to Miles Davis' quintet and bringing him to the attention of Blue Note owner Alfred Lion. In 1964, Williams asked Rivers to play on his debut album for Blue Note, “Life Time”, which was a huge success and gave Rivers the opportunity to play on organist Larry Young's “Into Somethin'”. Sam Rivers was signed by Blue Note to record his first album as a bandleader.
A month later, Rivers entered Rudy Van Gelder's recording studio to record his sensational debut album “Fuchsia Swing Song” with a top-notch quartet consisting of Williams, double bassist Ron Carter and pianist Jaki Byard. Although his music shows clear avant-garde influences, Rivers remained firmly rooted in post-bop and blues throughout this magnificent program of original pieces. Particularly noteworthy are the lively title track, the intense “Downstairs Blues Upstairs” and the enchanting ballad “Beatrice”, which, even after many years, is still considered one of Rivers' most beautiful pieces.
As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US's analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Fuchsia Swing Song” took place on December 11, 1964 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.
UHQCD
1. Fuchsia Swing Song
2. Downstairs Blues Upstairs
3. Cyclic Episode
4. Luminous Monolith
5. Beatrice
6. Ellipsis